Abstract: The RAX-4000 para-xylene (PX) adsorbent has undergone its first industrial application in a 1.0 Mt/a PX adsorption separation unit at SINOPEC Hainan Petrochemical Co., Ltd. in 2019. The full-load calibration assessment results showed that the average purity of the PX product was 99.81% with the average yield of 98.0%. Since the unit start-up it has been running stably and has undergone shutdowns for maintenance and restarts during the five years. The average purity of the PX product was 99.76% with the average yield of 98.0% from January to September in 2024. The pressure drop in the adsorption tower varied regularly with the load and remained relatively stable, achieving long-term stable operation of the unit.

Key words: adsorbent, p-xylene, adsorptive separation, RAX-4000